Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 15:20:16 -0700
Reply-To: Coby Smolens <cobys@WELL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Coby Smolens <cobys@WELL.COM>
Subject: Back on the air, Eurospec #1
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Just to let you all know - KPFA is back on the air and although there is
much to be done legally to insure that our community radio becomes/stays OUR
community radio, the real fight has moved off the streets and into the
courts and meeting halls. "What does this have to do with Vanagons?", you
might be asking yourself? Well for one thing it means I can start to catch
up (HAH!) on Vanagon list mail which has been piling up (perfect timing for
Gerry's transplant - very well done, you server servers!).
I'll start with one of my own, though -
We have in the crate our first Eurospec conversion kit, which we are going
to begin installing in a customer's van this coming week. The Van is a '90
Carat, loaded. We got the full option kit, which we understand will be the
LAST OF IT'S KIND. Henceforth the kit will provide for a straightforward
engine swap using the shorter 2.0L (I'm not sure exactly which engine, but
the one I'm getting is the tallblock version which is reputed to deliver a
bit more BHP) and the gear to mount it, but at this writing my understanding
is that the only option available for it will be power steering. I expect
that if the program goes on demand will be high enough to justify offering
at least AC.
And I hope the program survives. Prior to making the decision to recommend
this kit to our customer I went to inspect an installation in progress (at
Tassi's in Daly City), and Bruce Tassi took me for a test drive in a van
they had just finished. I was pleased with the cleanliness of the
installation, the completeness of the kit (although there are no
instructions with it - buyer beware!) and the performance. The van I drove
was an '84 Wflia, which would have walked away from a 2.1 in a quarter mile,
although off-the-line torque was not what I had thought it might be. Once in
the power band, though, the thing felt like it would just keep accelerating.
Bruce claims that they feel real comfortable at around 85 mph, and still
have plenty of room to move.
We will be documenting the installation procedure with digital stills and
perhaps some sound/video (if I can convince my sister to let me borrow her
equipment). It will probably take me awhile to get the stuff posted to the
website, but it will be done.
Another thought - I am interested in talking to people who are more
web-capable than I who might want to help get the site better organized and
shepherd it into the next stage of its evolution (for reasonable
remuneration, of course), so we can at last be fulfilling our promise to
offer a tech-info page, new and used parts sales, Van & Westfalia Finder and
all like that... I can figure the stuff out, but it takes time that I can
scarcely find to do the rest of the work I need to do...
Coby Smolens, Owner
Valley Wagonworks
"Intimately acquainted with VW Vans since 1959"
1535 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.
San Anselmo, CA 94960
Phone: (415) 457-5628
Fax: (415) 457-0967
http//:wagonworks.com
mailto:contact@wagonworks.com
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